


Jane's Weakness

by dreamchaser31



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Physical Abuse, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22798750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamchaser31/pseuds/dreamchaser31
Summary: Jane Foster is a powerhouse. But even she has a weakness and it's about to consume her.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Jane Foster, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster & Erik Selvig, Jane Foster & Steve Rogers, Jane Foster & Thor, Jane Foster & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Jane's Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to explore Jane's psyche for a moment and it got dark and twisty.

Jane was five when she got her first telescope. She,of course by then, could name off any constellation you could imagine, she had been gifted with a quick wit that rivaled her father's. But the telescope was a gift from her grandmother, and it had come at a time when Jane had started to recognize that her perfect life was maybe not so perfect. 

Her mother and father fought. And when they fought they used more than words. The first time she saw her mother hit her father she had started to cry and they both had yelled at her to get out. 

She had. And she had taken her telescope and ran to her nana's house. 

The fights only got worse from there. Jane had friends whose parents had been divorced and who had gotten along better than her own. Divorce never seemed to be an option for them either. She never understood why. So science became her outlet. She worked hard in school. And even when her parents were so focused on themselves and their problems she still fought for their attention. 

Accomplishment after accomplishment. Reward after reward. Medal after medal. Her parents were always there but never present. They'd go to the ceremony, take her out for ice cream, then be back in their own problems after.

Jane swore she'd never do that to her kids. 

She graduated high school when she was ten and her parents shipped her off to the America's for college. She hadn't minded, she'd begged them to. 

They divorced two years into her college tenure. She graduated with her bachelor's degree at thirteen and her doctorate at sixteen. Her teenage years were a blur of being shuffled from one home to another. Her dad got remarried and had a couple more kids and when time with him became sparse, she spent more time with a mother,who was more focused on becoming the wife of a rich man with three trust fund kids, than her.

Was it a wonder why she was so independent?

In her adult life she'd had exactly two serious relationships. Don was a doctor, an anesthesiologist to be exact, and had spent most of his alone time with her dictating her life. 

She could admit now that she had had very low self esteem, and she'd let him. 

It got to a point that he was even interfering in her work. Yeah he was smart, and could understand more about what she talked about than the average Joe. But more and more they were going to his events, and fundraisers, and looking for a house in the suburbs, and planning their two and a half kids. 

Erik had shook her out of dazed stupor. Erik was her advisor and college and more like a parent to her than her own by then. 

She'd been infatuated with the perfect relationship. She never had it emulated to her in her real life, but those tv shows she watched, the women sure seemed happy. She wanted that for herself. 

She broke up with Don two weeks later and moved her base two New Mexico and worked her ass off. 

She'd been so embarrassed to be that dependent on someone when she never, ever wanted to be like her mother. 

She dated a little, online mostly. Nothing ever panned out, not that she could be bothered, she'd much rather work anyway. 

A year later at twenty-five she had gained more notoriety and the university had approved for her to have an intern. 

Darcy had been more of a nuisance than anything but everyday she had grown to respect the poli-sci student a little more. They were close in age and had come from similar family background. 

Except Darcy wasn't jaded. 

And then Thor literally crashed into her life. She immediately fancied the homeless stranger. 

It was a wonder that she hadn't seen him for what he truly was. His eyes were as blue and as full of magic as his hammer that flew through the air. 

She had let her guard slip a little. 

And then he'd left.

For two years. 

And her heart became a little more black. 

He came back. He saved her life. They started a relationship. 

And then he left again. 

Jane had been conviced then that she was never going to find that one, she wasn't worth it, so she focused on career. Days were spent in swarms of equations that could make the average person dizzy. Nights were spent with the stars and alone in bed. 

She must've been a sad existence because even Tony Stark was setting her up on dates. 

Every Avenger was actually. 

Except Steve. Steve set her up with his therapist friend, Sam. 

Anybody who really knew her would tell you that getting her to open up was like getting a gate with sixteen inches of ice over it to open. 

S

She wasn't a hard person to get along with. She was actually well loved around the tower. She just had no interest in persuing a normal human relationship. 

Sam would usually describe his time with her to Steve as the equivalent as sticking a butter knife into a toaster. It wasn't easy and not recommended. But that never stopped him from trying, and while she was thankful, she felt it was a waste of time. She had learned more about him than he her. 

And when he started dating Darcy, it just became awkward, especially because she and Darcy shared an apartment in the tower. 

Her mom visited with her rich husband at times, but never stayed. She was more impressed with the glamour of the tower than her own daughter. 

Her dad visited too but always faked getting a call from his wife in order to avoid staying too long. She liked to pretend it didn't hurt, but little by little it was eating her alive. 

Her grandmother was her only sense of peace until she wasn't anymore when she became sick with stage four pancreatic cancer, caught much too late, and she passed three weeks after her diagnosis. 

If Jane was absent and unresponsive before in therapy, she was all but a human shell after that. 

She missed meetings with Tony, meals with Darcy, and more work days and nights then she could count. Jane was tiny at 120 pounds before, so the fifteen she lost in the month after her grandmother's death was the final straw for Steve. 

Steve knew about heartbreak and loss more than any young person should have known at his age. His father and mother before the war. Bucky and Peggy during the war and after he woke up. He was also an anti-believer in talking to a therapist, even though he did so reluctantly. 

But he also knew he had so much more than the world relying on him to be strong both mentally and physically. He had his best friend. 

The shit that Hydra had put Bucky through could make the toughest man in the world, cry in shame. In fact it had. The pictures of Bucky in an ice box still made him gag to this day. 

Bucky knew mental, physical, and emotional abuse more than anyone he knew. And Jane, one of his closest friends, almost sister, was teetoring on the edge of existence and death. No one could reach her. 

T'Challa, who knew Jane before the world knew him, was amenable to flying Bucky to New York, and with Bucky and Tony healing their rift ages ago, Tony put him up in his own apartment. 

He looked good with his new arm, like he could probably beat his ass in the gym. If Steve ever wanted to get his ass handed to him, he'd call his best friend. 

Steve had given him the run down over the phone, but Bucky hadn't wanted to know much. He wanted to meet her organically. "Just give me a name, Steve."

After all Hydra had done to him, he still wanted to defend the little guy. 

Steve only hoped that he hadn't gotten Bucky here too late.

Bucky didn't have to ask who Jane Foster was, he knew the moment he laid eyes on her and even fell in love a little. 

He wouldn't tell Steve, of course. He had a lot of crushes before the war. Nothing panned out because he hadn't been ready to settle down. 

He'd settle down a thousand times for Jane Foster. 

She'd been in the cafeteria with Sam, who was trying,(begging) her to eat. Bucky still wasn't sure how he felt about Sam Wilson, but he had to agree with him. She was a tiny thing, with tired eyes and a dark countenance. 

She was either very depressed or very annoyed. He figured with Sam it could be either. He didn't approach he just watched as she took a tiny bite of her pasta and a tiny drink of water, took a look at her phone, shoved her plate aside, and stormed off. 

Bucky had a love/hate relationship with his own phone device, but never had he had that reaction from looking at it before. 

Bucky turned and went in the opposite direction. The tower was huge but dressed well with signage. He became his own tour director. He started on the ground floor, remembering to keep his hand in his pocket, and worked his way up. Marketing, advertising, commons, research and development, training, avengers housing, the commons area, then the top floor which was the living area where all the Avengers and their loved ones spent most of their free time. 

By the time he made it all the way up it was dark out. He found himself at the bar pouring himself some of Stark's expensive scotch and downing it in one gulp. The tower was really overwhelming. Much busier than his home in Wakanda. 

He missed his goats. 

A shadow of a figure and soft sobs caught his attention coming from the balcony. A normal human wouldn't have heard them. But he was cursed with super hearing and well, it was what it was. 

He followed the sound and stood just outside the door. "You ok, doll?"

She startled and he winced. He hadn't meant to scare her. He used his fast reflexes to keep her from going over the terrace railing. "Easy there. I'm sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

She wiped her eyes furiously, she didn't want him to know she'd been crying, and he didnt blame her. "It's ok to cry, you know. It helps heal."

She let out a sob and all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and hold her tight. He watched the warring emotions across her face while the tears continued. She let out a small hiccup and sighed. "It's my birthday today. I shouldn't be crying."

"Well happy birthday. Why does your birthday make you sad? And why aren't you celebrating?"

"My grandmother always forced my family together on my birthday. Now that she's gone, I haven't gotten one text message or call."

His father worked two jobs before the war to put food on the table and never once did he forget to tell his loved ones he loved them or give them a happy birthday or make them feel special on their special day. He couldn't imagine the turmoil warring in her heart. The neglect she must be feeling was enough to overwhelm him. 

"Want to talk about it," he asked. "I'm a good listener."

She shook her head. 

"That's okay. I'm also good at not talking. I'm a pro at it. Drives Steve mad."

She giggled and looked back up at the stars. He knew of Jane Foster before Steve of course. She had a brilliant mind, a little on the young side for all her success. And was rapidly becoming one of the more successful stories that came out of the whole SHIELD operation. "Am I wrong to still want attention from my parents even though I'm thirty?"

"Not wrong. I think parents should pay attention to their children no matter the age."

Another sob. "Just let it all out doll."

And she did. She screamed at God for taking her grandmother. And she fell into his arms and held him tight. And she beat his chest cursing her mom and dad. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore. 

And then, like music to his ears. 

"I'm kind of hungry."

"How about this, doll. You let me take you out for a bite to eat and then if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be there"

Everyone but Sam sighed in relief when they saw Bucky and Jane exit the elevator with Jane eating French fries and laughing at something Bucky said. 

Of course that could have something to do with the one-up competition that Sam had going on with Bucky. But they'd deal with that another day.


End file.
